diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/SparkContext.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/SparkContext.scala
index 0dbac45fd7f9..6018c87b0122 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/SparkContext.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/SparkContext.scala
@@ -601,6 +601,8 @@ class SparkContext(config: SparkConf) extends Logging {
         .foreach(logLevel => _schedulerBackend.updateExecutorsLogLevel(logLevel))
     }
 
+    _conf.get(CHECKPOINT_DIR).foreach(setCheckpointDir)
+
     val _executorMetricsSource =
       if (_conf.get(METRICS_EXECUTORMETRICS_SOURCE_ENABLED)) {
         Some(new ExecutorMetricsSource)
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/internal/config/package.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/internal/config/package.scala
index 87402d2cc17e..dc3edfaa8613 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/internal/config/package.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/internal/config/package.scala
@@ -1317,6 +1317,15 @@ package object config {
           s" be less than or equal to ${ByteArrayMethods.MAX_ROUNDED_ARRAY_LENGTH}.")
       .createWithDefault(64 * 1024 * 1024)
 
+  private[spark] val CHECKPOINT_DIR =
+    ConfigBuilder("spark.checkpoint.dir")
+      .doc(
+          "Set the default directory for checkpointing. It can be overwritten by " +
+          "SparkContext.setCheckpointDir.")
+      .version("4.0.0")
+      .stringConf
+      .createOptional
+
   private[spark] val CHECKPOINT_COMPRESS =
     ConfigBuilder("spark.checkpoint.compress")
       .doc("Whether to compress RDD checkpoints. Generally a good idea. Compression will use " +
diff --git a/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/CheckpointSuite.scala b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/CheckpointSuite.scala
index 874f4896bb01..7a39ba4ab382 100644
--- a/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/CheckpointSuite.scala
+++ b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/CheckpointSuite.scala
@@ -669,4 +669,20 @@ class CheckpointStorageSuite extends SparkFunSuite with LocalSparkContext {
       assert(rdd.firstParent.isInstanceOf[ReliableCheckpointRDD[_]])
     }
   }
+
+  test("SPARK-48268: checkpoint directory via configuration") {
+    withTempDir { checkpointDir =>
+      val conf = new SparkConf()
+        .set("spark.checkpoint.dir", checkpointDir.toString)
+        .set(UI_ENABLED.key, "false")
+      sc = new SparkContext("local", "test", conf)
+      val parCollection = sc.makeRDD(1 to 4)
+      val flatMappedRDD = parCollection.flatMap(x => 1 to x)
+      flatMappedRDD.checkpoint()
+      assert(flatMappedRDD.dependencies.head.rdd === parCollection)
+      val result = flatMappedRDD.collect()
+      assert(flatMappedRDD.dependencies.head.rdd != parCollection)
+      assert(flatMappedRDD.collect() === result)
+    }
+  }
 }
diff --git a/docs/configuration.md b/docs/configuration.md
index 7884a2af60b2..cb1fb6fba958 100644
--- a/docs/configuration.md
+++ b/docs/configuration.md
@@ -1795,6 +1795,15 @@ Apart from these, the following properties are also available, and may be useful
   </td>
   <td>0.6.0</td>
 </tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><code>spark.checkpoint.dir</code></td>
+  <td>(none)</td>
+  <td>
+    Set the default directory for checkpointing. It can be overwritten by
+    SparkContext.setCheckpointDir.
+  </td>
+  <td>4.0.0</td>
+</tr>
 <tr>
   <td><code>spark.checkpoint.compress</code></td>
   <td>false</td>